2016 Library Challenge: A Book Set in a Different Country

Antarctica–

Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette? (2012)

Equal parts comedy and mystery, this novel from former Mad About You and Arrested Development writer/producer Maria Semple technically isn’t set in Antarctica, but the suggestion of a trip there initiates the plot. Fifteen year old Bee wants to visit Antarctica on a family trip, along with her parents. Initially, the family agrees, but shortly beforehand, her mother disappears. It’s up to Bee to investigate and find where her mother is, and along the way, she learns that her now anxiety-riddled mother used to be a promising architect until something happened that her made retreat deep inside herself away from the rest of the world.

Alfred Lansing’s Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage (1999)

If you like real-life adventure stories and/or history, try this book about Ernest Shackleton’s infamous 1914 Antarctic expedition. He had intended to be the first to cross this continent but his ship getting marooned in ice at the start of the expedition provided Shackleton and his crew with a very different set of challenges.

David Roberts’s Alone on the Ice (2014)

If you like real-life adventure stories and/or history but don’t want to read about more famous Antarctic explorers like Shackleton, consider reading about Australian explorer Douglas Mawson. He was exploring Antarctica at the same time as Shackleton and others like Amundsen, but his main claim to fame is trekking 100 miles across Antarctica by himself in 1913 after the other two men in his small party of explorers died.

Whew, we covered the world in far fewer than eighty days. I might not try a blog post this long for awhile. But I hope you enjoyed our literary tour of the world!

What’s your favorite book set in another country? What’s your favorite country to read about? Have you read any of these books? Tell us in the comments!